Means for lengthening skirts



May 18, 1948 L. E. HOAGLAND 2,441,664

MEANS FOR LENGTHENING SKIRTs Filed Aug. 9, 1947 INVENTOR. LucZkEffaayZa/zc( BY jmd" i erly, facing the hem s Fig. 1 is a fragmentary details of this article.

e, through the agency of Fig. 2.

'l Fig. 4 as viewed Patented May 18, 1948 UNITED .STATES PATENT OFFICE' i MEANS Fonmzir'flimd sxla'rs Lucille E. Hoagland, Rosemead, Calif.

This inventionrelates to means for lengthening a skirt in order to adapt it to a change in style; and the invention is particularly applicable Where the change in style does not require a great increase in the length of a skirt: and where the hem at the lower edge of the skirt has sufficient depth to enable it to be let down to give the required increase in the length of the skirt.

It ispossible to lengthen a skirt by an amount equal substantially to the depth of its hem, letting down the hem and re-tailoring the lower end of the skirt by using a short hem and propon the inner side of the skirt. These operations, however, consume considerable time. One of the objects of this invention is to provide means which can be employed to facilitate the operations necessary to effect the lengthening of a skirt as suggested.

In practicing the invention, I provide a facing band, which finishes the lower edge of the skirt on its inner side; and one of the objects of the invention is to provide a facing band` having a structure that will enable it to adapt itself to the width of the skirt at its bottom edge, thereby avoiding any possibility of the newly applied facing drawing the material of the skirt, or tending to puckers, or folds, in it. Y

Further objects of the invention hereinafter.

rThe invention consists in the novel parts and combinations of parts to be described hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce an emcient means for lengthening skirts.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specification, while the broad scope of the invention is pointed out in will appear the appended claim.

' Inthe drawing:

vertical section taken the skirt, and having a through the lower edge of` which is adapted to relatively deep hem; and

. be let down to lengthen the skirt.

'Fig. v2 is a plan view of a short section of the means that I employ for facilitating the Y operation of lengthening a skirt.

1 Fig.'3 is a vertical section taken about on the 2 i view of course shows only aj short section of skirt after this operation isf'completed.

Referring more particularly to the parts, and especially to Fig. 1, I indicates the lower portion of the skirt in vertical section. The lower end of the skirt is provided with a deep hem 2, the upper edge 3 of which is usually secured in place by binding 4, the lower portion 5 of which is stitched to the upper edge 3, and the upper edge portion of which is attached by blind stitches 8 to the material of the skirt.

In order to facilitate lengthening the skirt by an amount substantiallyiequal to the depth of the hem 2, I provide a composite facing strip I illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.` This strip has a body 8 of suitable facing material, and this body is composed of bias material, that is to say, the direction of the weave of threads forming this facing, extends at an angle to the length of the goods. This angle of course is usually The upper edge of the facing bodyv 8 carries a binding or tape Il` of relatively narrow width as compared with the width of the facing body 8. This binding 9 overlaps the upper edge IIJ of the r is connected by stitches II.

The binding 9 as shown in Figure 2 has its threads extending "on the straight, that is with either the warp or weft extending longitudinally, in order that this binding ybe less extensible and thus afford a fixed anchor for the bias strip. In this way the binding 8 presents al projecting portion that extends beyond theupper edge I0 of the facing body 8, so as to present a free surface or area I2 beyond the edge I0. This projecting portion or area I2 is for the purpose of facilitating the attachment of this facing 'I on the inner side of the skirt when completing the lengthening operation.

, that secures the binding 4 to the edge 3 ,of the line 3-3 of. Fig. 2, and further illustrating the Fig. 4 is a sectional view similar to Fig. i,

` but illustrating the relation of the parts Aafter the lengthening operation has been effected the means illustrated in hem 2, is also ripped out. In other words, the hem 2 is completely Ifreed so that it can extend down below the line Il which represents the lower edge of the skirt as originally tailored. After accomplishing this, the lower edge I5 of the facing body 8 on the side I6 thereof, is laid over the lower edge of the hem 2 on its outer side, and either pinned or basted in place, after which these two Vedges are united together to form a seam, by longitudinal stitching I1. This stitching is applied near the edges so as to leave a hem I8 beyond the stitching on the material that originally formed the hem l, and also so as to leave a corresponding hem Il on the facing body l of the facing strip 1. These hems are then pressed out nat. after which the facing strip 1 is folded back against the inner side of the skirt as illustrated in Fig. 4. In doing this. the facing strip 'l is lifted slightly so as to leave an edge 2l of' material about a quarter of an inch wide between the bottom line 2| of the skirt and the location of the stitching i1. The upper edge of the 'binding 9 is then secured to the inner side of the material oi' the. skirt, by blind stitching 22 (s ee Figs. 4 and 5).

It is evident that the .composite facing strip I can be readily produced in large quantities by a continuous machine sewing operation in a factory. It should also be apparent that by using this composite strip to facilitate lengthening a skirt having a deep hem, it is only necessary to perform four simple operations. namely, ripping out the original binding 5 to let down the hem of the skirt; attaching the lower edge of the fac-l ing body 0 to the lower edge of the lengthened hem 2; pressing the hem thereafter; and then applyingthe blind stitches 22 to secure the up per edge of the binding l to the inner side of the skirt. And the bias material of the facing body t insures that the facing can stretch to adapt itself to the new bottom edge of the skirt, without drawing, and without puckering either the facing, or the lower edge of the lengthened skirt.

Many other embodiments of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit ofthe invention.

I claim as my invention:

As ai new article of manufacture, a separate piece of composite dress material for facilitating the lengthening of a skirt having a hem at its lower edge. including the combination of a facing band of. bias material having a bottom edge adapted to be attached and hemmed to the lower edge of the lengthened skirt, and a relatively narrow binding attached longitudinally along `the upper edge of said band overlapping said upper edge, said binding having its threads on the straight. and extending above lthe same to present an area for the application of stitches for attaching the same to the material of the skirt.

LUCILLE E. HOAGLAND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the ille of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

